Loudmouthed
by FFFX
Summary: Yell it loud and make sure everybody hears you, and everybody looks at you! Chapter 3: Changes have consequences. In the aftermath of the mission, Sasuke is dragged home in manacles made of sand, but victory is bitter-sweet, and things can never be the same.
1. Sonata of the Red Haired Witch

Loudmouthed

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Chapter 1: Sonata of the Red Haired Witch

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It was hard to notice for the ninjas that were involved in life or death battles, but in times when such horrifying chakra and killing intent is thrown around in the forests of the Fire Country, the woods normally bustling with life become eerily quiet. The ninja don't notice because they are too intently focused on their enemies, the threats on their lives, and the sound of their own pulse thumping impossibly loud in their ears. The sound of the opponent's every move mixed with the beat of your own heart; this was the melody of shinobi combat.

Even when everyone present was entirely still one could still hear the beat of their own heart like a drum solo. The killing intent radiating through the forest from that one person, the new arrival, the Fifth Sound Kimimaro, was enough to change the rhythm of her heartbeat to a frantic tempo, the quick beating one would expect from a finale.

Perhaps out of the four of them present only Tayuya and Kimimaro knew how deathly afraid she was of her own comrade, no… he couldn't even be called a comrade. He was nothing less than her executioner. She was sure, she could feel his indiscriminate killing intent and it spoke no lies.

Shikamaru had already bitten his lip to calm himself and regain the use of his calculating mind. He could see the red haired Sound Ninja trembling in the presence of the last Kaguya. However, Naruto beside him seemed oblivious to the threat on his life and was even more angry than anything. So close yet so far away.

"Why…" Tayuya whispered under her breath. "Why are you-?" _Why are you here, Kimimaro?_ She was terrified, unable to truly move, and barely managing to speak. "Your body… your body isn't…" _Your body shouldn't be able to move anymore!_ Speaking in the presence of Kimimaro was impossibly hard. It was like she was staring at a shinigami. _Shit._

Kimimaro, for all things considered, appeared completely calm and indifferent. However that was his way. He had no feelings to express for himself, so he acted on Orochimaru's. Right now Tayuya could tell that Orochimaru was _pissed_. "I'm not moving with my body anymore. This is the power of my will." Kimimaro merely stated facts as he saw them, not skewed by any sort of conjecture.

When he says things like that, then it becomes even more terrifying. "Damn… with one foot in the fucking grave…" Tayuya mumbled. It wasn't loud enough for Kimimaro to hear, but loud enough for the Konoha ninja to pick up.

"I can understand it better now… this is the perception of an anthology life form that is no longer bound by a prison that is our body. It is as if I am touching the border of Orochimaru-sama's dream." Kimimaro's apathetic scowl deepened as he rested a hand on the barrel by his side. "This is an important vessel for that dream… but… you were a bit too late." His eyes narrowed as he focused on the red haired Sound Ninja and the message was loud and clear. Orochimaru wasn't just pissed, he was _fucking pissed_.

The fact alone more than any of Kimimaro's words is what made Tayuya flinch.

"Quit babbling things that don't make sense!" Naruto couldn't take it anymore and launched himself straight at the Fifth Sound with his hands curled to fists and a punch at the ready. "Give Sasuke back!"

Ultimately the maneuver could be classified as recklessly retarded. To Kimimaro it appeared as though Tayuya leaped between him and the charging blond because she wanted to protect her pride by refusing to show him that she was held up by such a stupid and weak opponent. To Shikamaru and Naruto it appeared as though she was protecting Kimimaro as her superior officer. Neither of these perceptions was true.

Tayuya punched Naruto with all her might because had he continued on his trajectory… he would have died. However she did not save his life because she wanted him to live, but rather because she wanted to kill him herself. She was going to die, but she was at least going to take these two shit-heads with her to hell. They had ruined everything, and now her death had come to her in the form of that bone white shinigami.

Kimimaro was then dangerously close, suddenly behind her and whispering in her ear. "The reason I have yet to kill you is because you still have a mission to complete in this life. Take out those two pieces of trash…" And he was gone as quickly as he had come, taking the barrel containing the Uchiha with him.

It took a recollection of all her experiences to force down an emotional response to that threat on her life. Once this mission was over she would be killed and there was no question about it. She drew her flute and glared at the Konoha ninja in front of her. If she was going to die she'd at least enjoy this. The blond idiot was swearing as the Chuunin tried to calm him down with a few words. It should be easy to finish them off.

The blond kid was your stereotypical close-ranged idiot that could only use Shadow Clones, while the other one was a shadow user that could disable an enemy at mid-range and a rather cunning team leader based on their previous gambits. Yeah… this wouldn't be too hard.

Then they used a tactic she did not really expect. They charged.

"It's two on one! We're more than able to handle this! Let's go Naruto!" The shadow user yelled as they charged.

"Alright!" The blonde yelled as he charged as well, kicking off harder than his companion.

Tayuya laughed. They really were a pair of stupid rookies! "You two shitheads won't make a difference no matter how many of you there are!"

"Don't underestimate our teamwork!" The shadow user's kunai collided with her flute as she parried, but the blond idiot continued to sail at her like a torpedo. In some manner she did not expect, his fist collided with her face hard enough that she actually lost consciousness for several seconds.

When her vision returned the shadow user was cursing to himself as he ran on ahead while the blond idiot had his fingers wrapped around her collar.

Then he hit his head on a tree branch and was peeled off of her, crashing into further tree branches. Tayuya found herself landing on the ground hard enough to knock the wind from her lungs. That was embarrassing. Perhaps not as much as the blond idiot who was now hanging upside down by his clothes in a tree, but almost as much because she was put into her current situation by said idiot.

Tayuya picked herself up and spat out some blood. She did have to give the ungraceful shitstain credit for one thing though. Fucker sure could punch. She cast a glance around the small clearing and spotted her flute not even two feet away. "You're a stupid fuck, you know that?"

Naruto finally freed himself from the tree and crashed into the ground, and groaned and rolled over before standing properly again. "Ow…" He had tried to leap over her, but he had misjudged the distance and realized a moment too late that he was actually going to hit her, so he hit her with everything he had. Well… at least Shikamaru got through, as was the contingency in case he fucked up, although to be honest they had more expected her to make him fuck up than for him to actually fuck up.

"Your dipshit of a team leader just left you to die, just like all your fuck up teammates. That Sasuke kid must really be _the shit_ for all of you to act like a bunch of stupid fags." Tayuya half-yelled as she picked up her flute. One of them got by her, which means if she wasn't considered dead to Orochimaru already then the last nail was just hammered into her coffin. She could even picture Kabuto writing her name on the lid. _I'm going to enjoy spending my last few precious hours of life beating yours out of you._

Naruto looked at her with a scowl. "You don't know anything. To them… Sasuke is a comrade and a fellow shinobi of Konoha, and none of them would ever abandon a comrade, ya know!"

Tayuya's lip twitched slightly in irritation, this blonde fucker was loud. She had no idea that Konoha was letting god damned raid sirens become ninja, how fucking pathetic. "What about you?"

The boy seemed to smile slightly. "To me… Sasuke is… a complete asshole who does nothing but talk down to me… but despite that… he's my closest friend, and I'll save him no matter what! I'll beat you, join Shikamaru, and save Sasuke, ya know!"

Tayuya's right eye joined her lip in twitching. "Is everyone in Konoha fucking retarded?" She hissed. "You have no hope of beating me!" She bit her thumb and swiftly flashed through a set of hand seals Naruto found quite familiar.

_That's-!_ Naruto leaped backwards while drawing a kunai, preparing himself for anything as she slammed her palm onto the ground.

_Kuchiyose no Jutsu [Summoning Technique]!_ The burst of smoke was enormous, but cleared quickly. Naruto's expression was one of comically over-exaggerated horror and surprise as three giant, hulking, brutish monstrosities appeared surrounding Tayuya. "You should be more worried about staying alive!"

The blonde Jinchuuriki's eyes were wide with astonished horror and he raised an accusatory finger pointing directly at the middle beast. "W-what the hell are those?"

Tayuya's twitch returned. _I am definitely going to enjoy the last few hours of my fucking life killing this idiot. _"You'll have to find that out the hard way… how about I play you a requiem and you forget about saving anybody but yourself for a little while? Not that it'll do you much good anyway you stupid shit..."

Naruto watched as she raised her flute to her mouth, sweat beading on his forehead in anticipation. _I guess I can afford to forget about the mission for a little bit… and have some fun here. _He couldn't help but notice as she began to play that the melody that escaped her flute was actually quite beautiful. However, he also noticed her monstrous summons were very fast, and the moment he was distracted by the music was the moment the middle one with the giant club decided to smash him into the ground. _Shit!_

The crash kicked up a lot of dust, and visibly broke the ground. Tayuya halted her playing and her mouth hung open slightly. _Over already? What the fucking shit?_

"Ow…" Tayuya's eyes widened as the dust cleared… revealing the blonde idiot to have shielded his head with his arms, which had prevented his skull from being cracked open like an egg but didn't stop him from getting knocked clean off his feet and onto his back in the center of the small crater made by her minion's attack.

"You're still alive?" Tayuya mumbled. "How the fuck did that happen?" She put her flute back to her lips and resumed her melody of death, the club wielding doki lifted its club and brought it back down in another spectacular crash, but she watched as the boy rolled sideways out of the dust… and as she had planned right into the path of her second demonic summon as it struck downward with its wrist-mounted spikes. He seemed to notice this as well and gave an undignified 'eep' as he pushed off the ground in mid-roll, just barely clearing the strike, the weapon taking only a small slice into his side instead of disemboweling him entirely.

Airborne, perfect. The third doki flew at him with its spike covered, upside down head aimed to collide with Naruto's frail human body. Tayuya couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. She had hoped he'd at least last long enough that she'd be able to get some fun out of this. As it stood, she didn't even need her Juin.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu [Shadow Clone Technique]!" Naruto yelled as he made his signature hand sign, a clone appearing to throw him out of the way of the monster's charge, before the clone itself was struck by the beast, leaving the real Naruto unharmed and landing rather ungracefully stumbling closer to Tayuya.

Tayuya's eyes narrowed and the club wielding doki landed between her and the close ranged idiot, giving her cover but also allowing her to see him. "You're not half bad for somebody whose arms should have been snapped like twigs."

Naruto just grinned. "Don't underestimate me. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage, ya know!"

There was a stagnant pause before Tayuya ultimately burst out laughing, her flute held at her side as she clutched her abdomen in uncontrollable mirth. "You? Hokage? You're hilarious! Somebody like you could never become Hokage!"

Naruto's grin turned into a scowl again. "I said, don't underestimate me! I'll show you… I'll show everyone what I can really do, ya know!"

Tayuya's laughter died down rather suddenly, and she met Naruto's gaze. He was dead fucking serious. Her lip twitched slightly and she lifted her flute back to her lips once more. "Fine… if you're in such a hurry to die, I guess I'll humor you." She began her song again, calling all three of her doki in front of her, and between them Naruto could see Orochimaru's curse mark spreading over her body like black lightning. "You shouldn't underestimate me either…"

Naruto formed his hand seal again. "Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu [Multiple Shadow Clone Technique]!" Suddenly the field was filled with what could only be described as a small army of blonde haired, orange garbed, loud mouthed future Hokages. "Now it's one thousand against four… I think I just tipped the odds in my favor, ya know." He had the balls to smirk at her.

Tayuya's eyes were wide. _How could a little shit like him summon that many shadow clones?_ She shook her head and forced herself to calm the fuck down. _No… even if he has a lot of chakra… even if he can summon this many shadow clones, they all still have the same shit for brains. I still hold the advantage. There's no way he can coordinate that many shadow clones!_ Her requiem began again, a new verse, and a new formation.

The doki struck forward, such a large number of shadow clones packed into such a dense wooded area made it almost impossible for them to dodge effectively. Tayuya herself jumped back away from the brawl, as he club wielding doki swung horizontally, its weapon cleaving out a whole section of the army, as well as one of the gigantic trees, which the wrist-spike wielding doki shoved so that it landed on even more clones, and the armless one simply charged into the group head first, the needles on its head impaling every clone in its way. In a matter of seconds, over half of Naruto's clones were destroyed, and the club wielder was about to make a repeat performance.

Tayuya's only oversight, perhaps, was allowing the doki to stand directly between her and her enemy, for despite her obvious advantages, she could not see in time to have her doki dodge a counterattack. As her club wielding doki swung, a lone shadow clone shot from the crowd holding a blue ball of chakra in its right hand. "Rasengan [Spiraling Sphere]!" Tayuya was left shocked as he once again surprised her, this time, by hitting her doki with an attack that sent it flying backwards straight at her. She was forced to drop down onto her stomach in order to dodge it and then she heard a small explosion from behind.

Naruto merely grinned in triumph. "Hehe… I told you not to underestimate me."

Tayuya could only glance at him as she stood up before she gave a brief look over her shoulder. Her doki was all but split in half with a large crater gouged out of its gut. Additionally, its spine was probably broken from where it crashed into the tree a good five yards behind her. "No fucking way…" She looked back at Naruto with a glare that would have possibly put Gaara to shame. "How the fuck… did a faggot like you get a technique like that?"

Naruto pumped his arm. "I've got way more where that came from! You're going down, ya know!"

Tayuya growled before bringing her flute back to her lips.

Naruto tensed immediately. _Just as I thought… those things only move when she's playing her flute!_ His eyes widened as a great shadow hung over him. He looked up of course and saw the armless one falling down on him. _That means…_ He leaped sideways to dodge the giant, but the other one with the weapons on its arms was ready and waiting with a colossal punch. Naruto gagged as he was impaled by the two spikes, piercing his right lung and his stomach. _Can't dodge…_ His momentum continued as he slid down the spikes until the base of his sternum made brutal contact with the beast's fist, he was sent flying off the creature's arm and into a tree with a crash. His shadow clones all dispelled themselves from his indescribably agony.

"Finally dead, you stupid fucking shitstain?" Tayuya asked irritably.

In response, through the wood splinters and dust he laughed. Not one of those annoying childish laughs either, like a fucking… maniac Orochimaru laugh, only less gay. It was actually kind of hot when she thought about it. "You're one tough bitch…" He pulled himself out of the tree, as if his back wasn't broken from that impact, like he had bones like fucking Kimimaro! "I haven't been this hurt since I fought Kabuto!" She saw him clearly; red eyes staring at her, a wide feral grin, and those strange whiskers on his cheeks were much more noticeable now too.

Tayuya shivered. That chakra… it was… evil as fuck. _The hell is he?_ She was no chakra sensor, so the mere fact that she could feel it wrapping around the entire clearing spoke volumes for its intensity.

His bleeding wounds healed right before her eyes as a vile crimson chakra swirled around him. "Come on! Hit me with your best shot, ya know!"

Tayuya narrowed her eyes at him, her hands were trembling. "Were you faking this whole time? Were you just pretending to be as stupid as fuck?"

Naruto shook his head. "Enough talking! Let's do this, there's nobody else here! Just you, me, and a pair of fucked up oni monsters."

Tayuya couldn't help but grin back at him. "Fine…" _Let's see just how much you can bleed before you run out of that evil chakra!_ She began her song again, slightly modified for a little extra brutality. The armless one charged straight at him and Naruto effortlessly leaped over its head, but as usual Tayuya had her other doki more than ready for him when he was open right after dodging. The brute punched at Naruto again, this time it impaled his right arm and pinned him to the side of the tree, using the buried spike to keep itself up as well.

Naruto grit his teeth through the pain, so much as biting his lower lip and drawing blood with his sharpened canines. _Shit… can't move…_

The giant punched him in the chest with its other arm, both spikes burrowing into his flesh with the same searing pain as before. Needless to say he screamed, and if Tayuya wasn't playing her flute she would have grinned savagely. _The blonde fucker had a nice pair of lungs, emphasis on 'had'._ But she reprimanded herself. He healed from a similar injury mere moments ago. It would take much more than a repeat performance to kill him. _Time for a little overkill._

The doki pulled one arm free of the tree, letting the Jinchuuriki's arm fall to his side. Then it jumped from the side of the tree, pulling its other arm free and bringing Naruto with it. It spun in midair, swinging its arm around so hard Naruto went flying right off of its spiked bracer. Not even giving him time to scream, let alone recover, the armless doki slammed into him head first, the needle-like spikes on its head tearing into Naruto's back before smashing him into a tree. Somewhere along the way his forehead protector fell off and landed right in the dead center of the clearing.

Tayuya had her doki leap away before she halted her song. "You dead yet you blonde fuck?"

A moment of silence pervaded the forest before she saw his body twitch. She squinted her eyes in disbelief, as if her vision was faulty and needed correcting, but then he twitched again, this time his good arm burst free from where it had been, no doubt painfully, wedged into the tree, loosing several rather large wooden shards in the process. He then used said arm to push himself free from the tree, falling to the ground. Tayuya couldn't help but wince as his bloodied back landed on a rather nasty wedge of broken tree. He seemed to notice too as his whole body stiffened and his back arched to try and keep itself away from the source of its anguish. "Pain!" He grunted rather loudly, his eyes wide and watery.

_Is this fucker crying?_ Tayuya gave him nothing more than a deadpanned expression. She could not even fathom the way this kid's brain worked.

She watched as he slowly rolled himself over, despite all appearances Naruto was not angry, could not be angry. The Kyuubi's chakra flowed through him, not in rage, but because he had gone to the fox and told it pay rent. Now he needed a refill because he damn near exhausted his first dose just keeping his heart beating after being stabbed in what was likely a couple of vitals. _Keep it comin… you damn fox… I'm not gunna… give up yet…_

As if in response to his mental demand, the red chakra once again enveloped him, in a quantity far surpassing any he'd really ever received before. Granted he felt a lot of it vanish into his swiftly mending wounds, but there was still enough for the usual power burst and then some. It was certainly more than the last batch, and that last jolt had been way more than he called on to fight Neji or Gaara. _I can't tell if you're getting more generous… or if I'm just getting better at this._ Naruto grinned as he stood up slowly, showing her exactly how unhurt he was as he dusted off his pants and glared at his badly torn jacket.

The last stab had punctured the zipper, breaking it a good deal. There was no coming back from this… no amount of tailoring could ever restore his jacket from this amount of damage. "Damn it… this was my favorite jacket…" He unzipped what was left of the zipper, the slider came off and he threw it with potentially deadly force at the flute user, but she easily deflected it with her instrument. The collision sent a jarring impact down her arm, an unexpected one for such a small projectile.

_He can't be hurt…_ Tayuya was suddenly struck with this realization. _I'm fighting… an endlessly regenerating juggernaut._ She switched her flute to her left hand and shook her right to revitalize it. _I'll need to get rid of that chakra of his… if I'm going to have any hope of killing him._ "We'll move on then… to my final song, Makyo no Ran [Revolt of the Demon World]. Nobody has ever listened to my requiem and lived."

Naruto entered his more feral fighting stance. "Sounds exciting."

The two doki charged as Tayuya's tune changed drastically, Naruto dodged with lightning speed, practically vanishing in a crimson-orange blur and reappearing behind the beasts. The monsters opened their mouths with a tearing sound, seeing as they had been sewn shut and all, and two worm-like things billowed out, covered along their lengths with pointy toothed mouths.

They darted towards Naruto none so swiftly, so he side-stepped them, but he let one bite his right arm full on just to see what would happen. Needless to say he was surprised when it tore off a purple chakra-replica of his arm and ate it. "Youch!" He jumped out of the way of their second strike. _They eat chakra… even the Kyuubi's chakra… scary._ He kicked off a tree to dodge their third strike. _But boring._ It was understandable though. In the face of somebody with a chakra like his, the first instinct is to wear the target down until it more of a fair fight. Too bad for her the Kyuubi's chakra was inexhaustible. As he bounced off the ground while dodging their fourth pass he summoned another shadow clone and held up his right hand, the clone setting to work on another Rasengan.

Tayuya felt sweat saturating the rim of her hat as she played as fast as she could to have her ghosts keep up with Naruto's unnatural speed. _That technique again!_

Naruto bounced off a tree, diving right through the ghosts, the mouths biting into his chakra but with its sheer volume he escaped out the other side unharmed. His red tinted attack aimed right at the armless doki. "Rasengan!" With a crash the doki was sent flying into the other and both crashed stupendously into a tree, sending it toppling down on their heads with a massive crunch of broken wood. Tayuya's melody halted abruptly, and she could do nothing but stare at him with her eyes as wide as they've ever been, biting her lower lip as she tried so very hard to rationalize exactly what the fuck just happened.

He dove through her chakra eating ghost with a feat of speed that should have been impossible for a jounin.

He defeated all three of her doki in what could only be considered two hits with an insanely powerful jutsu.

He was a reckless idiot who relied on his insane stamina and fucking evil ass chakra to simply overpower his opponents.

She was losing… because he was one strong son of a bitch, and no amount of strategy could ever overcome the immeasurable gap in power. For the first time since Kimimaro… the second time since meeting Orochimaru… she felt completely and utterly helpless.

"It's just you and me now." He spoke softly, coyly more like. Fucking smug son of a bitch. "Oh come on, don't give me that look! You just gunna give up because I beat up your stupid pets? Punch me like you did earlier! Fight me! Don't give up!"

Tayuya growled again, this time no amount of self control could stop her curse mark from spreading even farther. Not that she cared, she needed level two anyway. "To think… I'd have to use level two… on a fucking stereotypical, brainless, close range, third rate ninja like you… it's a joke! A big fucking joke!" Her skin darkened, her hair grew longer and her eyes black with yellow irises. Her skull cap was torn to shreds as her head sprouted five horns. "A moron like you… do you have a death wish? Huh? Who the fuck cheers on their enemy?"

Naruto grinned at her, some strange feral grin that had a very mischievous feel about it. "Why're you fighting me? For Orochimaru? I don't think so! You're fighting me because you want to defeat me! Well the same goes for me! There's no Sasuke here, and no Orochimaru either! I'm fighting to defeat you! In this kind of fight there's no victory unless I beat you when you're giving it a hundred and ten percent!"

Tayuya's anger left her entirely and instead she laughed. She laughed long and hard at the expense of this poor naïve sap… who was absolutely fucking right. "Alright dipshit! Let's do this then! I'll give it my all, my true power!" She brought her flute to her lips. "Mateki… Mugen Onsa [Demon Flute: Phantom Sound Chains]."

Naruto's eyes grew extra wide as he uttered one syllable. "Fuck." He felt chains on his arms and legs holding him still, arms splayed out at his sides. He could no longer see the red haired demoness through the red fog a barren wasteland of sand and skulls. _Is this… genjutsu?_

Tayuya stopped played and just stood there staring in a mix of awe and disappointment. "No fucking way…" She laughed wickedly at the absurdity of it all. She just stood there laughing for whole minutes and the whole time Naruto just stood there hissing and screaming in the false pain of her genjutsu. "You… you really are a dipshit." She choked out between laughing. "I'm even being sporting and gave you five fucking minutes to break out but you can't! Genjutsu… is your weakest link!" She walked toward him, truly a wonder alright, a fucking god of war who could only be killed and crippled by the most ridiculous means. Granted Mugen Onsa was a powerful as fuck genjutsu, it didn't change the fact that he was completely fucking helpless to it.

Naruto couldn't see her, but he could hear her. "So… this is it… you gunna kill me now?" He rasped through the phantom pain of his flesh melting off his bones.

Tayuya frowned as she approached him, inches from him and she just looked into his eyes. "Yeah. I'm gunna fucking kill you now. Any last words before you die, you blond idiot."

Naruto smiled as best he could through the mind blowing pain. "Yeah… I got a few of em… I've never… in my entire fucking life… met a girl quite like you…" He could not see her but he heard her respond to it audibly, some kind of snort he figured. "Just… make sure you yell it loud… that you beat Konohagakure's next Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto! Yell it loud… and make sure everybody hears you, and everybody looks at you… that everybody remembers... because that's all people like us want." She was silent still. "We're a lot alike you and me…"

The genjutsu faded immediately. The pain vanished, and he could see the real world again. The red haired demon girl standing over him as he fell to his knees in surprise just looked down at him with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She scowled angrily at him, her teeth clenched. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Naruto looked up at her and smiled. "When you are ignored entirely even when you say the right thing, you start to say the wrong thing just to be noticed… because being yelled at is better than not being spoken to at all." He stood up again and they stood there face to face. "Nobody ever looked at me… so I yelled loud and pulled pranks… at least when they told me to shut up and behave they were talking to me… looking at me."

Naruto watched as she transformed back from her cursed form, back into the red haired girl he had met, the black lightning-like marks receding onto the back of her neck. The tears were actually flowing now and it was all she could do to fall into his arms and rest her head on his shoulder to cry. He did nothing to stop her. "Fucking idiot… I can't kill you now… shithead." They were kindred spirits, and she could never bring herself to kill this person, the first person she'd even seen that actually understood her.

"I know..."

* * *

AN: And so the oneshot was no longer. Edited for grammar, spelling, and to flesh out the story.


	2. Nocturne of the Boneyard

Loudmouthed

AN: Well, I decided to continue it. Took me a long time to figure out this chapter, but I finally did. Chapter 1 has been updated and improved. It's also been a while so go read it again before reading more, you might want the refresher anyway.

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Chapter 2: Nocturne of the Boneyard

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Shikamaru had no delusions when he began to catch up with the sound ninja. The red haired girl's fear of gray haired boy should have spoken volumes for his threat level. All of the Four Sounds were undeniably Jonin level ninja in spite of their age. Orochimaru would have nothing less for his personal guard and Shikamaru knew that when they began the mission.

For the Fifth Sound to arrive -and from what Shikamaru overheard, half dead at that- and still incite that kind of fear in his own ally? Shikamaru knew that there was out of his league, and then there was this guy, who was perhaps outside of even Sasuke's league. _I could beat Sasuke. It would be hard, he would have to underestimate me, I would need a terrain advantage, and I would have to get lucky, but I could do it. This guy?_ Shikamaru clenched his teeth. _Not so sure I'll even be able to slow him down._

Shikamaru broke into a clearing to find, much to his growing dread and horror, Kimimaro had stopped running.

_I am so dead..._

"So... how should I kill you?" Ever attentive, Shikamaru notice the white blade enter the gray haired boy's left hand.

_Deeeeeeead._ Shikamaru bit back his natural reaction to turn tail and run. He did not have the terrain advantage. He did not have any luck. He could do nothing but hope that the Sound Ninja before him did nothing but underestimate him for the next five minutes. _Even so... Sasuke is..._

"Are you afraid?" The white blade grew longer.

"Of course I'm afraid." Shikamaru admitted. _Stall. Just stall. Talk. Ask questions. Hope that they do _not_ piss him off._ "Up until now... every one of my allies has been left behind for the sake of the mission objective. All of them were Genin, and this is my first mission as a Chunin. Of course I'm afraid... knowing the Four Sounds were all Jonin. Why wouldn't I be afraid? Technically speaking I should have halted the mission and turned around right after I knew we were outmatched."

Kimimaro's eyes expressed some manner of confusion behind his otherwise stoic demeanor. "Why didn't you then? Is this pride?"

Shikamaru managed to chuckle. "Nothing so glamorous. We're all just really stupid... the sort of people who would never sacrifice a comrade to save their own skins... that's why... even if we're completely outmatched, we'll stop one after another to slow you guys down... and bring Sasuke home. That's just the kind of guys we are."

"Loyalty." Recognition passed over the Sound Ninja's features. "Commendable. However everyone has a breaking point. For Uchiha Sasuke... that breaking point has long since been surpassed. Your allies have sacrificed themselves for nothing. Not even a cause worth dying for."

"I know I said we were outmatched from the beginning... but I'm not going to write my allies off as dead just yet." Shikamaru glanced at the ground as the wind picked up briefly. "They're also the sort of guys... who get stronger in a pinch."

"And what of yourself?" Kimimaro was biding his time, waiting patiently, perhaps conserving energy for the inevitable clash.

"I'm not the sort of guy you could even call strong to begin with. I have to rely on circumstance and my opponent's stupidity to pull out a come from behind victory..." He smirked and folded his hands into his usual seal.

The gray haired boy responded by raising his bone-white blade into a battle stance, the weapon had reached the approximate length of a longsword by that point. "And what advantage do you have here that you would wish to fight me still?" His eyes widened when he ceased to move, with the exception of a minor tremor.

"The grass here... is really long." Shikamaru grinned; he could already feel that crazy strong chakra fighting the Shadow Bind he had snaked through the shadows of the grass. _I need to use my new technique if I want to hold this guy at all._ _This... is like when sparring with Asuma-sensei..._ The chakra of a Jonin was a lot stronger than he usually had to deal with, and this Sound guy was definitely a Jonin. He shifted his hand seal slightly. "Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu [Shadow Neck Bind Technique]."

Kimimaro watched as shadows snaked up his legs, spiraling around his body and coiling their way down his arms and up his neck. He could feel them, like joint-less arms trailing fingers that hardened into a vice-like grip when they reached their destinations. One grasped at his throat and the Sound Ninja just gave it a curious hum of thought at the idle threat, for Shikamaru did not move in for the kill just yet.

"An interesting technique... you are... of the Nara Clan, correct?"

"Y-yeah... and I've got you now... so you're going to answer my questions." Shikamaru praised one fact, and that was that at the moment, it seemed that his enemy was only trying to fight the Shadow Bind physically. It was still terrifyingly effective, but it would hold so long as he continued to put chakra into it. At Kimimaro's silence, Shikamaru continued. "What does Orochimaru want with Sasuke?"

"Is that all? You ask a question that does not even matter. I will answer it then... immortality. Orochimaru-sama has already completed his Tensei Jutsu."

"What...?" Shikamaru hissed. "What does Sasuke have to do with..." Then it struck him like a Human Bullet Tank out of left field.

_-"I can understand it better now… this is the perception of an anthology life form that is no longer bound by a prison that is our body. It is as if I am touching the border of Orochimaru-sama's dream." Kimimaro's apathetic scowl deepened as he rested a hand on the barrel by his side. "This is an important vessel for that dream… but… you were a bit too late."-_

"His body isn't immortal..." Shikamaru whispered.

Kimimaro narrowed his eyes slightly. "You have figured it out already... you are very sharp."

Shikamaru clenched his teeth. _I need to kill this guy before I run out of chakra._ _I should have probably done it already... _Still, he did get some good information, even if it was risky to have done so. "This is the end..." The umbral hand hovering over Kimimaro's neck tightened.

The Fifth Sound did not even flinch.

"W-what?" He could feel his shadow tightening around the neck, but it was like it wasn't even doing anything. _It should be strangling him... why isn't he dying?_

Kimimaro's eyes wandered to his left hand where he gripped his weapon, only for Shikamaru to realize he was not holding it at all. The sword was made out of actual bone, and was growing out of the Sound Ninja's palm. "My Kekkei Genkai... is Shikotsumyaku [Dead Bone Pulse]. This enables me to freely control my skeleton through the construction and deconstruction of my bones." He watched the shadow user's eyes widen slightly. "My throat is enforced by a cast of bone stronger than steel. Your shadows are not strong enough to break it." _Orochimaru-sama has already transferred vessels for now... I have the liberty to wait for him to run out of chakra... and conserve my strength._

_Shadow Bind isn't strong enough to hold him. I can't do anything else while using Shadow Neck Bind. Shadow Neck Bind can't kill him._ Shikamaru felt his every hope die. _I can't do anything... I... I need to think... but... I need to... I... need..._

Kimimaro watched Shikamaru's horrified expression slowly cool. The boy took several deep breaths and then just looked straight up at the sky.

_I need to think._ Shikamaru resolved.

Clouds. Clouds helped. Clouds would never try to stab him. Clouds would just drift, aimlessly and freely on the winds breath. He envied the clouds, but he also admired them. They were simple, omnipresent, and at times more beautiful than anything he could ever imagine. He couldn't use his thinking stance to focus this time, so he looked to the clouds to calm his mind.

It helped a little.

_What do I have? What do I need to do? How am I going to do it?_ The pieces began to slide together in his mind. The simplest solution was often the best one. _Explosives._ He had three explosive tags in his pouch. He would have to be quick though, because as soon as his hands left the seal for the Shadow Neck Bind the technique would start to fade, and fade quickly.

Shikamaru moved then, his arm swifter than he had ever moved it before, ducking into his pouch.

The shadows released their hold and began to snake away.

He pulled out three paper bombs affixed to a kunai haphazardly in his haste to make them into a projectile.

The shadows snaked down Kimimaro's legs.

Shikamaru threw his knife, the sizzling paper tags whipped through the air just as the Shadow Neck Bind failed. Shikamaru jumped away from the ensuing explosion and smirked as his normal Shadow Bind remained in place. _Sometimes the old version has its uses._ He admitted. Kimimaro would have dodged with him had he used Shadow Imitation, but the Shadow Bind remained in place just long enough to delay the Fifth Sound's retreat. _Checkmate._

The knife clanged against a skull as strong as steel, and sizzling paper notes engulfed the last Kaguya in an explosion that rang through the clearing with an unearthly echo.

The barrel containing Uchiha Sasuke was sent flying a short distance away by the blast, and it rolled to a stop on its side. Black smoke began to ooze from the lid.

Then the Kaguya flew out of the smoke like a missile, armed with a blade of bone growing from each hand. His face was ripped to shreds, shattered metal fragments from the destroyed kunai embedded themselves all down his front, the skin of his face was almost completely burned away, and what little facial muscles remained were singed. The bone that shone through was pure ivory and completely unharmed.

Shikamaru was frozen in fear. _He just took three explosive tags to the face and lived. He just took _three_ explosive tags to the _face_ and _lived_. _Shikamaru watched as ivory death continued to bolt towards his face faster than anything he had ever seen, but even so the terror of death made it seem to slow to a crawl. _This... is far... far... too troublesome._

Then the barrel exploded, suddenly and without warning. Kimimaro halted to observe. The barrel's lid had blown clean off and Uchiha Sasuke crawled out, breathing heavily and slowly laughing between greedy breaths. Shikamaru slowly stepped away from the Fifth Sound and hesitantly called out. "H-hey! Sasuke!"

The Uchiha turned his head, his eyes yellow and the sclera dyed black, and stared at the Nara heir with a look of plain indifference. Then he stood up and ran.

Shikamaru realized that he was considering the mission a failure then, and that he had given up on the idea of winning. Kimimaro was not an enemy he could beat. He was not an enemy he could even escape from. He would not be able to chase after Sasuke... it was the end. Sasuke had succeeded at deserting Konohagakure no Sato.

"KONOHA SENPU [LEAF WHIRLWIND]!"

Salvation was green and adorned with tacky orange leg warmers.

The young green beast flew across the field and struck Kimimaro in the chest hard enough to send him staggering back. Rock Lee had arrived as perfectly timed backup. "Shikamaru! I am glad to see you are alright!"

"More trash. A pity, I was hoping to return to Orochimaru-sama swiftly." The fifth sound glowered at Lee. "But one or two does not matter. Neither of you will be chasing after Sasuke."

"Careful Lee, he can control his bones." Shikamaru warned helplessly.

"Right!" Lee charged, fists of fury, whirling kicks powerful enough to shatter stone.

Kimimaro was distracted. That was good, it gave Shikamaru time; time to get his morale back, and more importantly time to think of a new plan. _The main problem…_ Shikamaru observed. _Is that I don't think Lee can get through his bone armor unless he opens all those gates like he did against Gaara… but I can't ask him to do that again. In his current state I don't think he'll survive, if he's even capable of doing it at all._

He watched Lee and Kimimaro strike and dodge without fail. _Lee is keeping up…_ Shikamaru observed, hopeful at first, but as he watched Kimimaro dodge again and again it became clearer. _No… he's watching him carefully… and dodging with the minimal amount of movement and effort. He's toying with him._ The Nara clenched his teeth. _This situation really is hopeless._

Kimimaro chose that moment to punctuate Shikamaru's thought by going on the offensive, breaking Lee's guard and sending the green beast staggering back, but then Lee did the most unexpected thing. He held up and hand and yelled. "Please wait!"

Much to Shikamaru's shock, Kimimaro did hold off and waited.

"I have to take my medicine." Lee announced and reached into his pouch, retrieving a bottle and then downing it in one gulp. Instead of seizing the moment of vulnerability, Kimimaro did nothing.

Shikamaru could only watch on in confusion. _Why would he grant that courtesy? Does he not know what's going on? Does he think it's a trick or a trap?_

Then Lee changed his stance suddenly. "Acha!" He kicked out, missed horribly, and fell prone on the ground.

Shikamaru blinked. _Is he…?_

Lee fell asleep. Kimimaro immediately grew some kind of agitated beneath his stoic exterior and grew a second blade from his other hand. Then he jabbed at the ground… and missed as Lee rolled over. Rinse and repeat a grand total of fifteen times before he struck with both blades at once and Lee's legs flew up to clamp both blades between his feet. "Thash… not very nish…" Lee slurred and pushed, sending Kimimaro stumbling back. "You wanna fight ashho?"

_He is._ Shikamaru realized with mesmerized shock. _He's completely wasted… but… his movements are faster. Not only that but more unpredictable… this is… Suiken [Drunken Fist]?_

Lee transformed into a tornado, his entire body bending and twisting loosely around Kimimaro's strikes while his strikes wormed through his guard and collided with his thick bone reinforced body. A normal man would not have any ribs left but Kimimaro was unfazed, although his offensive efforts were becoming tantamount to a joke.

So he backed off, shrugging off his shirt as he did so and letting it collect at his waist, Shikamaru saw his cursed mark on his chest begin to grow and branch outward to cover the whole chest. Then his skin rippled and spikes of bone tore free from all over his arms and torso. "Karamatsu no Mai [Dance of the Larch]." Lee's incoming counter was met instead with a razor sharp cage of ribs reaching out like a mouth to bite off his foot. He would have lost it too if not for the shrillest noise Shikamaru had ever heard.

Kimimaro's protruding bone shattered instantly. Lee's kick connected and sent the Kaguya sliding backwards two meters.

The sound stopped and was replaced with a single syllable. "Fuck."

Shikamaru and Kimimaro turned as one to see Tayuya standing at the edge of the clearing, sweat pooling on her brow and flute clenched tightly in her left hand. Kimimaro narrowed his eyes. "So you would betray Orochimaru-sama… you have come to join this trash then?"

Tayuya looked at Shikamaru. The Nara opened his mouth with no available words capable of articulating the amount of 'what the fuck' going through his mind, but he took a deep breath. _This is so troublesome…_ "What happened to Naruto?"

Tayuya knew the answer would determine whether or not she fought alone. _He wants to know if I decided to betray Sound before or after killing his friend…_ "He went on ahead after Sasuke."

Shikamaru considered that and shrugged. _Leave it to Naruto to turn one of them to our side or whatever._ "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Get over here before he kills you. Lee! That guy stole your dumplings!"

The drunken Lee made more sense out of that then anything else that had been said in the last few moments and roared. "That bashtard!" And Kimimaro was blindsided by a roundhouse to the temple. So their spar began again.

Tayuya ran to Shikamaru's side. "Sadly I can only do that once and it had a fifty-fifty chance of killing him." She announced. "I got unlucky… he has two densities he likes to use often, and he happened to be using that one for his external bones. Now he's randomized them and even plugged his ears. All of my techniques are sound based so… I'm going to be pretty useless."

"You were on his side until just now. Any weaknesses we can exploit even if you can't?" Shikamaru prodded hopefully.

"Well… we if we can survive long enough he might stop living on his own. Otherwise no… we're pretty much fucked." Tayuya holstered her flute and hissed softly as her cursed mark spread over her body completely and ascended her to its second stage. Shikamaru seemed a bit put off by that. "What? He'll kill me even with this power, might as well use it and pray. Okay… I'm going to go help the drunken fucker with my chunin level taijutsu and superhuman strength. Wish me luck shitface, if you have any bright ideas let me fucking know!"

She charged, and knew it was stupid but her abilities were not limited solely to taijutsu. Genjutsu was a possibility but most of her good ones required sound. She would have to use shitty ad-lib Yin Release if she wanted to do anything, likely touch based illusions since she wasn't good enough to create visual cues that would ensnare him. _So fuuuuuuuuuucked. If I live Naruto owes me like… a hundred dinners._

Lee slid under Kimimaro's legs and he was in the middle of twisting around to face him again when Tayuya struck. "Magen: Shiranui [Demonic Illusion: Unknown Fire]!" He stalled slightly as her palm struck his back, his flesh appearing to ignite with blue fire and boil in the intensity of the heat, but he just turned to face her completely unbothered. Then Lee landed on his shoulders and proceeded to play bongos on the Kaguya scion's skull, leaping off just before six bone blades burst from his shoulders.

It would have been funny if he had turned his attention back to the green-clad moron, but no, he just continued to glare at her. "I have transcended both the flesh and the mind as well. You cannot snare me with Genjutsu… my spirit cannot be broken by such feeble techniques."

Tayuya jumped backwards just in time to dodge a swing of an elongating blade. Lee once again came to her rescue drop kicking down onto Kimimaro's neck and bouncing off. The blow would have killed a normal man, but Kimimaro did not even flinch. Instead he swiftly spun around and grabbed Lee by the leg, following that by smashing the boy into the ground.

Lee caught himself with his hands and kicked the Kaguya's arm with his free leg, releasing his grip and allowing Lee to flip away and stand closer to Shikamaru. "I apologize, I have regained most of my senses."

Shikamaru nodded. Being hurled at the ground fast enough to smash your skull tended to be pretty sobering. "Can you get a lotus out?"

Lee nodded. "Perhaps one… but it will be the last thing I do in this fight. If I continue after that I may not recover."

"Understood. Hey kunoichi, do you have any Ninjutsu?"

Tayuya huffed as she narrowly ducked under another bone blade. "A little Lightning Release, I can try."

Shikamaru took a deep breath. "Hit him with it when I give you an opportunity. Go Lee!"

The green beast ran forward, bones flashed towards Tayuya but were intercepted by Lee delivering a powerful upward kick to Kimimaro's forearms. He was much too heavy however. Lee would not be stalled merely by that, for Gaara was heavier. Instead he merely kicked again, and again, sending Kimimaro high into the air before moving behind him with Shadow of the Dancing Leaf. The bandaged wrappings around his arms constricted around Kimimaro and bound him into a whirling pile-drive. "Omote Renge [Front Lotus]!"

The crash was followed by Lee landing in a crouch nearby and Shikamaru's shadow entering the cloud of dust where the entire cloud was quickly filled with black. "Kagemane no Jutsu [Shadow Immitation Technique] successful!"

Tayuya's hands rushed through some seals before crashing together in a clap where lightning began to dance between her fingers. It had been so long since she used a normal ninjutsu technique that there was some novelty to it, especially when her cursed mark's chakra turned the lightning black. She grinned as she charged into the cloud of dust, blowing it away. She was not even surprised that the Fifth Sound had returned to his feet before being caught by the shadow, and grabbed Kimimaro's head in both hands. Then she gave him hell. "Raiton: Jibashi [Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder]!"

The voltage burst over him with such a crash it kicked up a secondary cloud of dust, leaving Shikamaru and Lee kneeling there wondering if it had even done anything at all.

Tayuya wondered as well, Kimimaro stood before her unmoving, silent, and then… twitched, Shikamaru's jutsu was forcefully ended and Kimimaro shoved a three foot spike of bone through Tayuya's gut. "Fuck!" _Dead! I'm so dead! I don't want to die!_ She reacted almost on reflex, lashing out with a fist and punching the side of the bone blade with all of her might, chakra pouring into her fist and residual lightning chakra cackling between her knuckles. She managed it, just barely, snapping off the bone from its base, but even then only because Kimimaro didn't want the blade anymore.

With a single kick Tayuya was sent flying from the cloud of dust and crashed a whole ten feet behind Shikamaru and Lee, sliding to a stop another five feet after that. Shikamaru could not even bring himself to swear. "What kind of monster is he?"

Tayuya coughed blood from her lungs as she rolled onto her front and tried to stand back up. _Fuck! The only reasons I'm alive are my cursed mark and the fact that he missed my vitals… even so I'll bleed out if I don't leave this blade in me, and it's so sharp that I need to be careful just moving around._ "Any more… bright ideas… shithead…"

The cloud of dust was dispelled by a wave of foul chakra, revealing Kimimaro changed by his second level cursed mark, fully healed and more powerful than he was mere moments ago. "I grow tired of dealing with trash." He crouched low, using his tail for balance in a terrifyingly stable stance. Then he reached up to his back and withdrew a replica spine to be used as a whip. "Tessenka no Mai: Tsuru [Dance of the Clematis: Vine]."

"Daikamaitachi no Jutsu [Great Sickle Weasel Technique]!"

Kimimaro was about to lash out with the whip when a great gale picked him up and threw him across the clearing.

Shikamaru blinked slowly. "Am I not the luckiest son of a bitch on the planet?" He could not help but smile. Three times. Three fucking times Kimimaro's killing blows have been interrupted by reinforcements. Temari of the Hidden Sand rode in on her giant tessen and landed beside him.

"Looks like you're having trouble." Temari began.

"Look, the banter is nice, but we should save it until after you hit that guy with the most destructive and lethal technique you have." Shikamaru cut her off immediately.

The sand kunoichi huffed at that. "That's a little overkill don't you thi-?"

"No." The slightly panicked Nara did not even let her finish that thought. "Hell, did you bring Gaara? We could really use another unstoppable monster right about now."

Temari shrugged and held her fan up while she bit her thumb. "You want destructive I'll give it. No need to bring my brother into this. I'm sure whatever problem you're having can be solved with perfectly normal ninja techniques." She wiped the blood along the length of her fan and wound up for a swing. "Kuchiyose [Summoning]…" With a great swing, gale force wind chakra was accompanied by a summoned weasel riding a massive scythe. "Kirikiri Mai [Quick Beheading Dance]!"

Kimimaro charged headlong into it, the wind dicing his flesh but failing to penetrate the bone shell under his skin. Kamatari's blade collided with Kimimaro's right forearm and got caught just long enough for the Kaguya to ensnare the weasel in his whip and toss it away.

When the winds ended Kimimaro was in a full on charge, bone growing out of his right arm in the shape of a large lance as he closed in on Temari with a single minded fury. Naturally, the sand Kunoichi was rather dumbstruck and only barely managed to raise her fan as the whip wrapped around her and the barbed spinal bones dug unto her back, her fan shielding her front. Kimimaro came to a grinding halt as he reared his lance back for a thrust through her heart. "Tessenka no Mai: Hana [Dance of the Clematis: Flower]."

Shikamaru caught the beast in his shadow for a grand total of one second to save Temari's life by an inch. His shadow bind broke, but Kimimaro did not move.

Silence reigned on the field, and Tayuya looked up at the last Kaguya with eyes widening.

Shikamaru dared to hope. "Is he…?"

Blood dripped from the Fifth Sound's mouth loosely and his body stood as still as stone. He must have been moving his body with his Dead Bone Pulse, because his joints were locked in place and… he was dead. "He's dead… Kaguya Kimimaro… is dead." Relief, happiness, triumph. Tayuya allowed herself to roll on her back and laugh even though she could barely breathe. Her curse mark faded from her as she gave one last yell of defiance. "Kaguya Kimimaro is dead and I helped kill him!" She was finally free.

–

_I had underestimated how sick he was. When Tayuya had said he should have been dead, that he was on death's door, that he had one foot in the grave... I just could not believe her words because the ninja before us was indestructible. Tayuya, a Sound Jonin who knew everything there was to know about him. Rock Lee, the greatest Taijutsu specialist the world will ever see and could keep up with his insane movements. Temari, who's ninjutsu was more destructive than anything I had ever seen. Myself, who would be heralded as the greatest strategist of my generation. We could not even touch this boy, barely our senior, who was already dead._

_For us, who had so much talent, so much pride that was worthless before a dead man... this was truly a complete defeat._

_Only Tayuya would claim victory, for against the monster that plagued her nightmares survival alone was a triumph._

* * *

AN: As usual my writing always feels like it could be better, but I'm always improving. Thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorited Loudmouthed when it was a oneshot, and thank you to everyone who just picked it up and enjoyed it. I'm already working on chapter 3, but with my update schedule I don't have many promises on when you'll see it. lol Wish me luck.


	3. Requiem for a Dream

Loudmouthed

Chapter 3: Requiem for a Dream

Sakura was not stupid.

She was foolish perhaps, optimistic, emotional, and more than a little selfish, but she was not stupid. She knew just as well as Shikamaru that the Four Sounds were Jonin, and that Naruto's team of Genin would have to be beyond lucky to succeed. She knew that Sasuke left of his own will, and it would take more than removing his escorts to stop him. She knew that Naruto was the sort who kept his promises to matter what and it scared her because she knew where it would all lead.

Naruto and Sasuke would fight each other again. This time, one of them would win, or both of them would lose. There would be no happy ending for everyone this time.

After standing in front of the main gate for hours, Tsunade attempted to confine her to the Hokage tower doing administrative paperwork. However Sakura was so distracted she got less than nothing done, literally accomplishing reverse progress by messing up some files and making more work for someone else. Thankfully Shizune understood, but sent Sakura home. Not out to do whatever she wanted, but home.

After Choji was brought back nearly dead, Tsunade immediately went about figuring out how to save him and everything else went on a backburner. Then Neji was brought in bleeding heavily from a shoulder wound. Shizune was then completely indisposed and everyone was beginning to grow increasingly worried. Sakura managed to sneak out with Tsunade and Shizune busy and hitched a pacing trail next to Guy-sensei, who was in a remarkable state of worry.

Between Neji and Lee he was on the verge of losing two students to heroic bravery. Sakura did not have to pretend to know exactly how he felt. Naturally, Guy allowed her to worry beside him. He'd have to be too much of a hypocrite to tell her otherwise, no matter how bad for her dwelling on it would be.

Both Sakura and Guy stopped and stared down the road when a small cloud of dust became visible in the distance.

The Beautiful Green Wild Beast of Konoha, Rock Lee could be seen sprinting towards the front gate at breakneck speed, and after crossing the threshold he slid to a stop and pumped his hands into the air. "VICTORY!"

Sakura was almost insulted by what, to all accounts, looked like a good natured race in such a dour moment. Lee began rambling before she could properly voice her feelings on the matter and immediately put them to rest. "Sakura-san! Naruto-kun wanted me to tell you as soon as possible! Mission accomplished! They are on their way home!"

Sakura found herself at a loss for words, but as tears flowed freely down her face she pulled Lee into an embrace and cried into his chest. Even though Lee had not been single handedly responsible for the news being true, the news he brought her was so very important. Her weary heart ached for days at the mere thought of the worst coming to pass and now that burden was lifted. She whispered softly between tear-riddled sobs. "Thank you… thank you so much…"

She was more sincere that she had ever known herself capable of being.

_Naruto came to a halt atop the head of a massive monument to Senju Hashirama, and across from him stood an equally colossal statue of Uchiha Madara, and on its head Sasuke stood, ready to run further until Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs. "Sasuke! Don't you dare run away from me!"_

"_Run from you?" Sasuke queried as he turned to face his, now former, teammate. His left eye's yellow iris and black sclera seemed to make Naruto flinch, and it was only then that Sasuke even realized he had not receded the cursed mark completely._ Partial transformations? Interesting prospect… _He dismissed the thought for the moment and turned his attention back to Naruto while pulling the curse back completely. "No… in fact I am glad you have caught up to me Naruto… I knew you would. I am surprised you would sacrifice so much just to get there though… you didn't seem like the type to abandon your comrades."_

_Naruto bristled. "I'm not… and neither are they. That's why I came here… to make sure that you don't get away. I promised Sakura-chan I would bring you back, and… I want you to come back as well."_

_Sasuke's expression was level and he gave a brief grunt of acknowledgement. "I've made my decision Naruto… that is why I am here."_

_Then Sasuke froze, a look of shock on his face as someone landed right beside Naruto in a crouch. Naruto turned his head, expecting really anybody except for who had joined him. "Sorry I'm late… Naruto." Rising to stand beside the blonde was Gaara of the Sand Waterfall._

"_Gaara… No you're just in time." Naruto decided. "This works out perfectly… I was afraid he might escape but now this battle is a foregone conclusion."_

_Sasuke clenched his teeth. He could take Naruto, and with his cursed mark he might be able to take Gaara, but both of them at once?_ Of all the reinforcements Naruto could receive… he gets Sabaku no Gaara.

"_I'm not the fool I was back when I graduated Sasuke. We could beat you and bring you back to Konoha easily, but that wouldn't solve the problem. That wouldn't make you stay. I have a better idea. Back at the hospital you said that I wouldn't be able to put a single scratch on your forehead. I'm willing to let you put your money where your mouth is." Naruto grinned. "If you can beat me before I land a scratch on your forehead then you can go. Gaara will enforce the rule so you don't escape if I win, and if you win..."_

_Gaara glanced at Naruto for a moment. _I see… this is for the best. Sasuke need to see the true path of power the same way I did, and the only way he will see it is if Naruto defeats him fairly. _"If Sasuke wins I will allow him to escape. I will allow these terms."_

_Sasuke stared at them for a long moment, unable at first to comprehend their foolhardy gamble. However it quickly dawned on him that they were not joking. Naruto was not the sort of person to lie about something like that. "I see… I don't have much choice it seems… I accept on one condition… if Naruto loses, then his life will rest in my hands, and whether he lives or dies will be decided on my whims."_

_Naruto scowled back. "You intend to kill me?"_

_Sasuke's expression grew blank as he met Naruto's gaze. A silent exchange occurred and not another word needed to be said. _Yes.

_Naruto clenched his teeth in rage. "Why? Why go that far?"_

_Sasuke placed a hand over his heart. "It is because… you are my closest friend… and so I must sever that bond. I must sever that bond to obtain true power!" His eyes blazed with the Sharingan. "Come! Let's finish this! Let's settle this once and for all."_

_Two clones bust into existence beside Naruto upon seeing the Sharingan and he grit his teeth. "Yes… no more mission, no more Sakura-chan, no more promises, no more revenge, no more desertion. From now on, it's just you, me, and this battle. I will prove to you I am strong."_

Sasuke sat in his barred cell, his wrists bound together with solid steel, his chakra still so low he could barely focus, and his face burning like white-hot fire. Nobody could heal it, just slap a bandage around his head and call it good. He deserved it, he figured, after all he had done. It was karmic in a way since he would need the reminder, a scar to tell him of his folly.

Naruto is strong.

His hands were lifted to his face again to touch the bloodied bandage. Even though it was a cut it ached like a burn, like searing poison ate at the nerve endings along the gash that traveled from his forehead down between his eyes at a slight angle from left to right. That red chakra looked like bubbling liquid fire but the claws it made where sharper than steel.

Naruto is strong.

Sasuke laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He ignored the sound of the door opening and continued to ignore Kakashi as he entered and sat down next to him on the bed. "You know… if you keep touching it it's not going to get better."

The Uchiha finally decided to glare at him.

"Perhaps a bad time for a joke." Kakashi admitted. "I'm glad you came back. Gaara's testimony is going to go a long way to getting you out of this cell."

"Gaara would have finished me off anyway." Sasuke mumbled.

"None of that self-defeating talk. Naruto worked really hard to bring you back; talking like that is only going to make all his effort worthless." Kakashi examined Sasuke's face intently. "Do you regret it?"

"I don't know." Sasuke rolled over to keep himself from having to see his sensei's face.

"Well… regardless. Gaara told everyone that when Naruto cut you, even though he passed out right after, you submitted and surrendered as per your word. That means that your word means something. If you swear an oath, the village will probably let you off easy with just observation for a while. You are just a Genin after all, even if you did cause quite a lot of trouble." Kakashi gave Sasuke a pat on the head -Sasuke's ear more like given his position- and stood back up to leave. "I'll let you stew on it for a while. I'll be back tomorrow."

The door shut again and left Sasuke in silence.

Naruto is strong.

"_**You are persistent… child."**_

_Naruto blinked slowly as he found himself somewhere within his own mind, the place where his consciousness touched the Kyubi's seal. "Huh?"_

_The fox lay behind its cage, dark and ominous; spooky as usual but nothing Naruto hadn't gotten used to. __**"You have asked for much of my power lately… for what purpose do you dare demand so much from me?"**_

_Naruto stood in silence for a moment, unsure of how to answer that question exactly._ Does the fox even understand what a bond is? Let alone friendship and family? _It occurred to him he had never asked, and never thought to ask before._ I don't know anything about the Kyubi… _"Do you… have you ever had a friend?"_

_The beast snarled slightly in contempt. __**"No."**_

_Something in the back of Naruto's mind just clicked, some kind of instinct. "That's… sad. I'm sorry to hear that."_

_The fox snorted at him. __**"I do not need friends. I do not need human pity. I am above such foolish things as bonds. If you need my power to live, take it. If you need my power to kill, take it. However, do not think you can take my power so easily to preserve frivolous things like**_** friendship**_**."**_

_Naruto scowled. "Then… have you ever had a family? You had to come from somewhere… do you have a brother?" It was almost silly, picturing the Kyubi with a family._

_The fox was oddly silent for a time, almost uncomfortable before it finally relented. __**"The Uchiha boy wishes to kill you for his self-righteous goal. For this reason alone I will give you my power. But if you dare draw on my power again for something as needless as a bond, I will devour you instead."**_

_Coming from the Kyubi, that almost sounded like a yes._

"_Thank you… Kyubi."_

_The fox snorted. __**"Be grateful to the so-called Fourth Hokage who sealed me into a brat like you."**_

"_Don't push your luck." Naruto stuck out his tongue at the fox while the world faded._

Naruto groaned and slowly cracked his eyes open. As soon as he did he immediately regretted it. "Oh my god… why does everything hurt?!"

"Because you lost around twenty percent of your blood and about ten pounds of body mass over the course of four hours." The answer was very matter-of-fact and was almost embarrassingly blunt. Naruto turned his head -regretted that too- to meet the gaze of Tsunade. He half expected to see Tayuya instead, but that did not speak so well for the red-head's tact. "You're lucky Kakashi came when he did, otherwise you might not have been brought back in time."

"Did I win?" Naruto half-mumbled. Even his teeth hurt, and he didn't even get any of them knocked out.

"Yes." Tsunade smiled. "You did. Sasuke is being detained at this moment. Hopefully he'll be released on probation in a few weeks."

Naruto smiled, although the expression was marred with pain. "Worth it."

Tsunade turned up her nose at that. "If you weren't in intense pain from having all of your muscles burned by chakra I would punish you for that one, brat. Do you have any idea how worried I was?! Your entire team was made out of idiots who thought retrieving Sasuke was more important than their own lives! I'm lucky any of you even made it back, let alone all of you!"

Naruto's eyes widened. "Zero casualties?"

"Four close calls, but yes." Tsunade quirked an eyebrow at Naruto's inquiry.

"As soon as we're legal, totally buying all of those bastards a drink. We are awesome! Five Genin beat up five Jonin, zero losses, mission accomplished! We are badass!" Naruto closed his eyes and let himself bask in the awesomeness that was true victory.

"I heard you had some help." Tsunade sat down on the foot of the bed.

"Ah! Right… how is Tayuya-chan?" Naruto asked with a chipper tone.

"Huh? You mean the prisoner Shikamaru-?" She then stopped when Naruto, of all things, sat bolt upright, flinched in agony, but did not fall back down.

"Not a prisoner. Defector. She helped me… she helped all of them, right?" Naruto nearly pleaded.

Tsunade bit her lip. "True as that may be, she was witnessed as one of the four ninja responsible for the helping Orochimaru kill the Third Hokage. My sensei, Naruto."

Naruto slumped slightly. "Don't even say that like I didn't care. I cared more than you did. Sometimes you have to let go, if you don't… like Sasuke… besides she didn't have a choice then."

"You don't know that. You don't know much about her at all. In fact, I probably know more about her than you do." Tsunade insisted, crossing her arms, suddenly feeling a little vulnerable to the severity of Naruto's… naiveté.

"Then tell me I'm wrong." Naruto demanded.

Tsunade couldn't.

_When they finally caught up to Shikamaru Tayuya grabbed Naruto by the collar of his jacket before he could run into the clearing. "Wait, the Uchiha isn't there. He must have run on ahead." Naruto froze at the implication. "What? You thought we were lying? He chose to come with us. If you want to go bring him back, then you can't afford to waste time fighting Kimimaro."_

_Naruto grew solemn at the thought. "But… they're losing."_

_Tayuya winced. "Right well… I… I'll join them. Don't worry about it. I'm sure the three of us can do it."_

_Naruto met her gaze, his dumb ignorance fell away then, and in place of it was a grim scowl. "Liar."_

_Tayuya flinched. "Okay… nothing can beat Kimimaro. I might have one shot, but if I fail…"_

_Naruto nodded. "You're willing to do this anyway? For me?"_

_The red-head bit her lip for a moment before nodding slowly. "Yes."_

"_Before coming on this mission… I promised my teammate, Sakura that I would bring Sasuke back. I told her 'it is the promise of a lifetime'… so… I'm going to ask you, no matter what…" Naruto closed his eyes and Tayuya expected any number of things. 'Protect my friends', 'win', 'give it your all' but what she did not expect was the one request that gave her courage. "No matter what happens… don't die. Make sure that you're alive when the fight is over."_

"_I… promise." Tayuya watched as he waited for more than that, and it dawned on her exactly what he wanted to hear. "Promise of a lifetime."_

"And then I said, 'ravish me you stud,' and next thing you know, here I am." Tayuya finished her recounting the tale of 'How Naruto Turned Me into a Sappy Tree Ninja' and Morino Ibiki was not impressed.

"That was chapter six, lines seventeen to sixty-two of Icha Icha Violence." The interrogator responded dryly.

"Huh… imagine that. Must have gotten the stories mixed up. I'm sure they were pretty similar." Tayuya shrugged, barely masking her amusement.

It was evident to Ibiki that he wasn't going to get anything useful out of the red-haired Sound Ninja. At the very least she didn't want to talk about how or why she changed sides. She was deliberately pushing the focus off of her in any way possible.

That wasn't going to stop Ibiki from trying. "So he seduced you?"

"Nah, I'm just fucking with you." Tayuya folded her hands behind her head. The hospital made for a shitty interrogation room, and because she helped the Konoha Ninja fight off the fifth sound she was more or less protected from actual interrogations until the Hokage said otherwise.

Ibiki was thrown for a bit of a loop though. He expected her to roll with that story for a bit longer. "You are pretty good at this."

Tayuya waved dismissively. "You don't know shinobi mind games until you have a conversation with Kabuto."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow. "This is the first time you've mentioned another sound ninja."

"Don't read too much into it." Tayuya scowled at him. "I don't like you any better. I'm sure you're a great interrogator, but you're just here to see if I'm actually a turncoat or if I'm going to sell you guys out to Orochimaru."

"Sharp as a blade, you are." Ibiki gave her an approving smirk. "You are obviously very rational. You think things through, and you have a good eye for subtlety. Very well, all pretenses aside, give me a good reason to believe you won't sell us out."

Tayuya held up two fingers. "Two is about as many as I got. First? Orochimaru will kill me if I go back. Real understanding motherfucker for the first couple of years when he's indoctrinating, but then he becomes a right asshole after you already need him so bad it makes you itch if he even frowns at you."

"And you shook that conditioning how?" Ibiki asked incredulously.

"I didn't. I cast a Genjutsu on myself after I decided to defect. I'm running on counter-hypnosis until I can spend a good couple of weeks… working it out."

"Second reason?"

Tayuya nodded somberly. "I won't ask you to trust me. In fact, I encourage you not to. I don't need your trust to live, I just need asylum."

Ibiki blinked. "Candid. That works well enough for me." He stood up. "You are a very good liar by the way, just try not to do it too much around Jonin for a while."

Tayuya blinked. "What?" But the door was already closed behind him. "Motherfucker."

Kakashi understood, in a way, what it meant to owe the deceased a debt. He owed Minato-sensei for teaching him all he knew, he owed Obito for making him a better person, and he owed Rin to make up for his failure. He understood how Sasuke felt, but he also knew what it was like to kill the ones who took away those closest to you. It was never enough and it never made you feel better. He just hoped Sasuke would figure that out before he did permanent damage to himself or the village… if he hadn't already.

Kakashi paused on his way to the Hokage's office as he walked past Shimura Danzo, one of the three elders. The Copy Ninja gave a curt nod as he did so and Danzo returned the gesture. "Kakashi, it is good to see you are handling this well. I'm sorry about your student. Konohagakure may have a low number of missing ninja compared to most villages, but there always seems to be one bad egg in every generation. It is just bad luck he was on your team. Nobody will hold it against you, I'm sure."

That gave Kakashi even more pause than merely crossing paths with the man. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Ah, perhaps I said too much. The council has reached a decision. You should speak with the Hokage regarding… this matter. She probably won't hold it from you, but secrets are secrets until the Hokage decides to tell them after all." Danzo gave a very shallow bow, no shallow it was barely a nod of the head. "Now if you excuse me, I have places to be."

After Danzo gave his leave, a small smile on his face after he turned his back, but Kakashi was already gone. The Copy Ninja moved double-time he used body-flicker to reach Tsunade's office and knocked only once before opening the door.

Tsunade did not look well or happy. She could not bear to lift her head, but the moment Kakashi entered the room she said what he wanted to know, even if he didn't want to hear it. "I'm sorry. They decided… they decided to execute him."

Kakashi clenched his fist in silence and closed his good eye. "Ah… I was afraid of that."

* * *

AN: And so here it is. Basically this chapter could have been twice as long, but I prefer slightly shorter chapters so I can actually update semi-frequently. This chapter was hard because not as much happened in it. And if you're wondering why I didn't write the Naruto vs Sasuke fight? Well... let's just say I would be hard pressed to make the Valley of the End any better, so assume 90% of it went as canon. I mean it's not like the characters have changed enough yet to truly alter the way the fight played out, but as you can see the butterfly has flapped its wings, and things are very quickly becomming a storm.

One thing is for sure... Naruto isn't going to just roll over and accept Sasuke's fate.


End file.
